Posted on 06/08/2004 8:54:12 AM PDT by lainie
Edited on 06/08/2004 11:18:28 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Controversy develops over Reagan funeral speakers...
'President Clinton really held out all hope the funeral would be a nonpartisan event, like Nixon's was,' a top Clinton source said on Tuesday morning. 'He's angry and disappointed neither he nor President Carter have been asked to speak, as of yet'...
CLINTON DISAPPOINTMENT: LEFT OFF FUNERAL SPEAKERS LIST
Former President Bill Clinton has privately expressed anger he has apparently been left off the speakers list of Friday's Reagan State Funeral, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
"President Clinton really held out all hope the funeral would be a nonpartisan event, like Nixon's was," a top Clinton source said on Tuesday morning. "He's angry and disappointed neither he nor President Carter have been asked to speak, as of yet."
The top source says Clinton has been critical that both Bush presidents will address the crowd gathered at National Cathedral.
Nixon's vice president Gerald Ford did not speak at Nixon's funeral.
Clinton's inner circle is convinced Nancy Reagan has personally shut out Clinton from any high-profile participation.
"It is a state funeral, using tax dollars," the top Clinton insider explained.
Former President George H.W. Bush, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney will join President Bush in eulogizing Ronald Reagan, Reagan's office announced. Presiding over the service will be former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, who is an ordained Episcopal priest. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the Rabbi Harold Kusher will give readings, while Irish tenor Ronan Tynan will sing.
The eulogy is being prepared by President Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, who also wrote the president's moving speech for a memorial service in the same cathedral after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Developing...
It is instructive to note for the Kennedy funeral that none of the current or former presidents -- Johnson, Eisenhower, Truman -- had a speaking role.
I hope if someone does ask President Bush whether Clinton should be "allowed" to speak, President Bush gives a dignified yet crushing answer... perhaps along the lines of, this decision is one that was made by President Reagan and by his widow, the woman who devoted ten years of life to his care, the woman who held his hand as he slipped into the twilight... and I find it very surprising that any one would presume to criticize or complain. I hardly think it is appropriate to add to Mrs. Reagan's grief by squabbling over media opportunities at the funeral. I only hope that my own comments are sufficient to do justice to the memory of a man I so greatly admired. I am speaking as the representative of the office of the Presidency, the office that President Reagan so honored. My father is speaking as one who served with President Reagan for eight years, who counted him as a mentor and a friend. This service is about honoring the memory of Ronald Reagan... not about honoring those who are speaking....
Let me put this in the gentlest of terms. It was Nancy Reagan's husband of 52 years that just died. When she and RWR said, "Til death do us part", they meant it. She has been, is, and always will be the backbone of the family.
She can invite whoever, and for whatever reason, she damn well pleases.
LBJ's 1973 Funeral to Be Model For Farewell to 40th President
By Elizabeth Williamson and Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, June 6, 2004; Page A32
Planners say Ronald Reagan's state funeral, to include a 24-hour lying in state in the U.S. Capitol and a service at Washington National Cathedral, will closely follow that of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973.
Reagan's family has the final say on the four days of observances, the schedule for which is expected to be finalized today, said one federal official involved in the planning. The ceremonies are being planned "down to the minute," the official said on condition of anonymity. It will be the first presidential funeral in Washington since Johnson's; Richard M. Nixon was buried in Yorba Linda, Calif., in 1994.
Initial plans call for Reagan's body to lie in state for a day at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The body then will be flown to Andrews Air Force Base on Wednesday, arriving at 5 p.m. It will be driven in a motorcade to Washington, and plans call for it then to be taken by horse-drawn caisson to the Capitol.
A viewing for national and world leaders will be held in the Capitol Rotunda, after which the former president will lie in state for 24 hours. In that time, the public will be allowed to enter via the West Front Terrace, and crowds can assemble at Third Street.
The day of the funeral, the body will be carried by caisson in a procession from the Capitol to a spot near the White House. From there, a hearse will carry the coffin to the cathedral for a funeral officiated by the newly nominated ambassador to the United Nations, John C. Danforth, an Episcopal minister and a former Republican senator from Missouri.
Afterward, the former president's body will be taken directly to Andrews Air Force Base and flown to California. Reagan will be buried in a wooded grove overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the presidential library, according to Cary Garman, chief financial officer of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.
Heavy attendance by foreign dignitaries is expected, particularly with the summit of the Group of Eight to take place 600 miles south of Washington at Sea Island, Ga., on Tuesday through Thursday.
Johnson spoke to the nation when the body of the slain president arrived with him at Andrews on November 22 and five days later at a joint session of Congress.
I understand that Dubya does the same thing. Total respect for the office. There are two guys that get it.
I can't imagine why two leftist revisionist of Regan's legacy were left off the speakers list.
It was a video and when the group left, one young lady stayed behind and the video shows her going out the side door of the office with him.
"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first."
...Ronald Reagan
And an ever-appropriate quote for Bill Clinton:
"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book." ...Ronald Reagan
Clinton was always ... how should I say it ... tacky?
hahahahaahahaha .. choking ... Ahem I wonder why ..
" bout time "
I heartily disagree. Not only does the Impeached Rapist's "me, me, me, me!!" response show his complete lack of class, but neither Clinton nor any other Democrat has a say in this Republican President's funeral.
If it were a partisan event this corrupt, disbarred, impeached, draft-dodging, woman-abusing, pathologically lying rapist would not even be allowed in the District of Columbia.
On a side note, I do fear for the National Cathedral's structural integrity should it indeed be struck by a massive lightning bolt when x42 stains its doorway.
Wonder if the secret service had anything to do with this?
Ihave to run..but wondering if anyone has checked the website for the USS Ronald Reagan?..Have they posted anything..
In other words, we believe in serving the country.
They believe in being serviced by the country.
Clinton wants somebody to paeon the Clinton legacy.
President Ronald Wilson Reagan
February 6th, 1911 - June 5th, 2004
Rest In Peace
"...In closing, let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your president. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that day may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future..." -- Ronald Reagan
Black background; nothing else
Just by raising the issue clinton has achieved his goal: It's all about him, now. My screen name was never so apt as it is today.
And Clinton is a bad actor.
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